


Staying With a Slytherin

by WorshipedWaterRock



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:54:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorshipedWaterRock/pseuds/WorshipedWaterRock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry shows up at Draco's home in the middle of the night, asking to stay with him, in secret, and Draco agrees, they get started on an odd path.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so this is my first Drarry fic, and I'm going to say that the chronological order is a bit weird since you don't figure out WHY Harry showed up at Malfoy's for quite a while, but it technically is canon for the most part up until Harry gets home with a passed out Dudley in the 5th book, then that's where it deviates a bit. Also, I'll probably include some lemony-limey stuff in the future because I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Also, they may be a bit OOC every now and then, so forgive me, but its not terrible.
> 
> I OWN NOTHING! ALL RIGHTS TO JKR! If I did own them then Ginny would NOT have ended up with Harry, sorry, but I don't like her. In the second year Ron said that she'd been gushing about Harry all summer but she'd only met him at King's Cross, so I really only think that she liked him at first because he was famous and just no.

Draco sighed in annoyance at the house-elf in front of him. "What exactly is the problem here?"

"Xeiry is sorry, Master Draco! Xeiry is merely following Master's guest's orders! Xeiry said to him that Master Draco would be angry! But Master's friend insisted!"

"Get to the point already!" Draco snapped.

The elf squeaked, her body quivering in terror. "Master Draco's friend insists that he come to the door! He says he needs to talk to Master Draco privately and that he doesn't want to come in! He asks that Master Draco hurries!"

"What's his name?" Draco asked, standing.

"He did not give Xeiry one!"

"Very well. You are dismissed." Draco growled as he padded out of his rooms, heading down the hall to the long, winding staircase. The whispers of his blue silk pajamas echoed throughout the empty corridors. His parents were in bed for the night, in their own wing.

Draco reached the front door quickly, wrenching it open. "Who are you and wh-" His voice cut off as he gaped at the sight of the boy in front of him, the messy black hair slightly hiding tear-stained emerald eyes.

Harry sniffed, eyes widening as he realized exactly where he was. Draco could almost see his thoughts as they went from shock to uncertainty to determined resignation. "Um… Hi."

Draco's mouth snapped shut as he stood taller, looking as haughty as possible in his pajamas. "What the hell are you doing here, Potter?"

Harry winced slightly. "I need you to let me stay here for a bit."

Draco once again gaped at the boy in surprise. His voice was strained as he spoke. "What?!"

"I said, I need you to let me stay at your house for a while." Harry growled, then paused. "Without letting anyone know." That was when Draco took in the trunk that stood behind him, as well as the muggle backpack and the empty owl cage.

"Um. Okay?" The blonde was too shocked to do anything but agree as he snapped his fingers, making an elf appear. "Take his things to my rooms," Then, turning to Harry, he spoke again. "My parents are already asleep, and it'd wake them up if we were to go into one of the guest rooms in my wing. You can sleep in my room tonight, and then we'll get you situated tomorrow while they're out at their dinner party."

Harry nodded, and it wasn't until then that Draco noticed the worried scowl that had been on his face the entire time. "Thanks, Malfoy."

Draco nodded. "Yeah. Be quiet, or they'll hear you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, dearies. Here is the next chapter. Hopefully I can get to the good stuff soon, please be patient. Once again, I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OTHER CHARACTERS! If I did, the series would be more controversial than 50 Shades.

Draco led Harry through his house, staying silent as he thought about this new development. Perhaps the boy had asked to stay there so he could spy on them? But if that were true, why didn’t he want Draco’s parents to know? If he wanted to snoop around, surely he could find other ways to do it?

He paused just inside his suite. “Alright, there’s a sofa in the other room, you can sleep there. Do you have anything to wear?” Harry nodded, looking confused. He looked even more so when Draco pointed to another door. “The bathroom is over there, you can change in there. Merlin’s Pants, Potter. What’s wrong now?”

Harry looked sheepish at being caught. “It’s nothing… Just… Why did you let me stay here?”

Malfoy leveled his eyes at his rival, evaluating him. “Why did you ask me to?”

Harry looked around the room uneasily. “I-”

“It’s alright. You don’t wanna say, I get that. So let’s make a deal. You don’t ask me personal questions, and I won’t ask you any. Got it?”

Harry nodded. his eyes slightly mistrustful as he collected his pajamas and moved towards the bathroom. When he emerged in dark green sweats and a black t-shirt that clung to his form and rode up slightly, teasing a view of tanned hips and read ‘Metalica’, he found that Draco was already in bed, sitting up and reading a textbook. 

Draco noticed his new guest’s lips quirked up in an almost-smile, instead of the seemingly perpetual scowl he’d had since he’d shown up. “Whats wrong?”

Jumping slightly, Harry’s smile dropped. “Nothing, you just reminded me a bit of Hermione is all. She’s the only other person I’ve ever seen who reads textbooks for fun.” the boy’s voice now seemed to be strained, and Draco noticed this, but decided to say nothing.

Instead, he raised his eyebrows. “I’d thank you not to compare me to Granger.”

“Oh. Alright. Sorry. Anyways… Night.” Harry shuffled off to the sofa in the other room, leaving Draco alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this chapter is where things pick up a bit more. Woo! There are alot more words and its quite a bit longer than the last two, but its bed time. I don't think this is terrible for one night's work. Have fun!
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing! All the characters used in this chapter belong to JKR! If they were mine, Ron and Hermione would have gotten together a lot sooner than they did, and Draco and Harry would have done a lot better things to each other.

The next day, the two boys helped Harry unpack his few belongings in one of the guest rooms. After that, they decided to play chess, Draco easily beating Harry each time. They lunched in the garden, as Draco’s parents were out, and decided to fly around on their brooms for another few hours before retiring. This became their routine for the next few days, and if there were others in the house, Draco and Harry stayed in their wing, reading and doing summer homework.  
About two weeks after Harry appeared, Draco awoke to small, muffled thumping noises coming from the room next to his. Again. Groaning, he cast a tempus charm, easily able to ignore the restrictions for underage wizardry, and swore when he saw that it was only 1 am. Throwing off his covers with a disgusted huff, he stamped out of his room to the one the noises were coming from. As he opened the door, he heard Harry’s voice, obviously sleep talking. 

Curiosity overcame the blonde. What could be so bad that Harry would be sleep talking and waking him up every night for the past two weeks? As he drew closer, the words became clearer. 

“Wait! No! You can’t! Don’t kill him, take me instead! NO!” the boy paused, quieting for a moment as he panted. When his voice came next it was no longer frightened. It was hard, determined. Angry. “I will never be like you. I don’t care-” The words suddenly shifted into Parseltongue, leaving Draco unable to understand. But from what he could hear of the raven’s voice, something terrible was happening. 

Finally, the Slytherin had had enough. He stepped over to Harry, shaking him awake. “Oi, Potter. Get up.”

Harry jumped as he was touched, his foot stopping a hairsbreadth from the blond’s neck. “Malfoy? Oh, Merlin, I’m sorry. I was just startled.” 

Malfoy stepped back, his voice surprisingly tender. “I can see that. Are you alright?” He moved to sit at the foot of Harry’s bed.

Harry scooted backwards, his back against the headboard, legs drawn up. “I’m good.” His voice projected a false bravado, and he knew that Draco could tell.

“What were you dreaming about?”

“What happened to no personal questions?”

“That was before you started shouting in Parseltongue in the middle of the night.”

Harry flinched slightly at that. “I was talking in my sleep?”

“Yeah.”

“And it was in Pars- well, no… That makes sense I guess. Was Parseltongue all I spoke?”

Malfoy fixed him with an odd look. “You said something about someone dying. About how they should kill you instead of them.”

Harry wilted, placing his chin on his knees. He didn’t speak, lips thinning into a line. 

“What did you dream about, Potter?”

Harry opened his mouth, drawing in his breath. “It… I was… We were back in th-” He broke off at the sound of pecking against his window. Hedwig was there, back from a supposed hunting trip, with several letters in her beak. Draco stood to let her in. 

The snowy owl swooped immediately to Harry, dropping the letters in his lap, before returning to her cage to drink some water and glare at Draco as he handed her an owl treat. 

Harry’s fingers shook as he looked at the writing on the top letter, swearing. The handwriting was messy, and he instantly recognized it.

 

_Harry,_  


_Where the hell have you been?! We’ve kept sending you letters, but the owls always returned with them unopened! Then Hedwig showed up, looking very unhappy mind you, and started nipping at me and Hermione. She didn’t let up till we sat down and started writing you more letters. Then she did the same to Sirius._

_Come on, mate. It’s been two weeks! Dumbledore and Dad managed to solve the problem of you casting the Patronus Charm, so you don’t have to attend your hearing, but Mum’s livid. She says that you’ve disappeared. And everyone is trying to keep it quiet with the Daily Prophet, but they’re all panicking, searching for you. Dumbledore had to go and question your muggles and they said that you just got your stuff and left._

_Just tell us where you are._

_Ron._

 

The next letter was in Hermione’s neat cursive. 

 

_Harry James Potter._

_You have some serious explaining to do. You can’t just up and disappear without contacting anyone! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been?_

_Mrs. Weasley told me to write that, as Mr. Weasley wouldn’t let her near parchment for fear she’d write a Howler, which I am entirely tempted to do myself, as I wholeheartedly agree with her!_

_I don’t know why you ran off or where you went to, but Merlin help me when I find out I will hunt you down and what I did to Neville during the first year when we went to go find the stone will look like I gave him a piece of his favorite candy when I am through with you._

_First off, how could you have been so irresponsible to get yourself EXPELLED! Do you have any idea how many favors all the adults pulled with the Ministry to get them to overlook that?_

_Second, how could you run off without a word! Voldemort could have KILLED you, and we wouldn’t know! Do you want us finding your body five years from now, completely rotted away with nothing to identify you? I know nothing is wrong with Hedwig, so I cannot fathom why you would decide to NOT contact us._

_I had better get a reply back, or so help me, I will take the entire order and I will devise an entire new spell system if I have to in order to find you. And that reply had better be that you’re ready for us all to pick you up because I’m entirely certain that you haven’t done your homework yet, and that will be your punishment. I am going to make you finish it all and then I will have McGonagall assign you extra, because she’s here too and her fury could rival Mrs. Weasley’s!_

_Lots of Love,  
_Hermione.__

 

 

Draco looked at the letters as Harry set them down, reading through them as the boy in question picked up the one from his godfather.

 

 

_Harry._

_I’m not going to lecture you (as I’m sure Hermione did enough) beyond this: What you did was incredibly foolish. Yes, I ran away when I was 16, but I went to my friend’s house, and people knew where I actually was. You contacted no one. We did not know where you were._

_I don’t want to lose someone else I care about, so please, tell us that you’re alright._

_We’re sorry we didn’t tell you everything, so just let us come and get you._

_Sirius_

 

Draco looked at Harry as he folded the letters with tight, barely controlled movements. A shiver made its way up his spine as he stared at the raven’s flashing green eyes. “What is this?” He hissed at the blond, gesturing toward the parchment on the bed. “Do you actually believe this?! What the hell! They’re sorry that they didn’t tell me everything? They didn’t tell me anything! They expect me to do all these great things, and yet they’re keeping me completely in the dark! Until I came here I wasn’t even getting any news about the wizarding world! How do they expect me to kill the greatest dark wizard of all times when they didn’t even trust me enough to tell me that they’re all staying together! Because they didn’t, you know? They made it seem as if it were a normal summer, even if it were weirdly quiet!”

Draco’s voice was soft, as if he were confronting an angry beast. “What do they mean, your hearing?”

“And that! There’s another thing! Right there! They don’t even bother telling me anything, they have people watching me, and then I have to deal with dementors attacking me and my cousin on my own! What the hell!”

Harry leapt up and began pacing. Draco watched him from the bed. “Dementors?!”

“Yeah! I got attacked and had to fend them off.”

Taking a deep breath, the Slytherin spoke. “Okay, how’s this. You write them, no, I know you don’t want to, do it anyways. You say that you’re fine, at least, so they don’t keep freaking out. When they see you at school, then everything will be alright, won’t it? Or, you could go to wherever they are and then they’ll see you’re fine, and then I’ll keep in touch with you and when you’re mad you can talk to me, okay?”

Harry looked hesitant for a moment. Finally he sighed. “Okay. I’ll write to them for now, and then maybe I’ll go.”

Draco nodded, standing. “Okay, you write, I’ll be right back.” He hurried from the room, casting a glance at the still fuming boy. 

Harry sighed, sitting at his desk and pulling out a bit of parchment and a self-inking quill. His writing was neater due to his anger, the strokes deep and deliberate.

 

_And where is it that Hedwig was able to find you all together, discussing things about my life and having me watched without me knowing? I’m fine. I’ll go to the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow, probably about 1 o’clock._

 

He folded the small slip into a envelope and handed it over to the snowy creature. “Sorry, Hed. I know that you’re probably tired.”

Hedwig hooted softly, nipping at his fingers affectionately before taking the letter and flying off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it's a bit late! But here it is. I figured that some of the plot from the original book is incredibly important, but I changed it a little bit so it adds in Draco, because you know he would have warned Harry a bit on how to get his way. Got a Slytherin, put him to work. I won't be posting again until tomorrow or the day after, my friend and I are working on a storyline for the series we're thinking of making, and I am attending a Debate meeting later today to see if I actually want to join the club.
> 
> I OWN NOTHING!

At about twelve the next day, Harry stood in front of the Leaky Cauldron, his cloak hiding him and his things. Draco stood nearby, leaning against the wall with a disillusionment charm cast. “Remember, Potter. Be calm. Use that special watch I gave you if you need to talk to me, or just send me a letter. And… since you said you wanted this kept a secret…”

Harry nodded, then, remembering Draco couldn’t see him, spoke. “I’ll make sure to talk to you. And yeah, I think it’s better if we just carry on like we have the past few years, for now. In public, at least.”

Draco nodded, knowing that Harry could see if he looked. “Be careful, and make sure that you don’t take off the cloak.” He strode off, the charm falling as he did so.

Harry waited in the shade, tapping his foot softly. Finally, after about 15 minutes, Ron, Hermione, and Ron’s parents appeared with McGonagall. Harry swept off his cloak. “Hey.” he said, watching them jump in surprise.

“Harry dear, are you alright?” Mrs. Weasley hurried over. At his nod she drew in a sharp breath, ready to start a scathing lecture.

“I’m sorry I just disappeared, Mrs. Weasley. To be honest though, I never got your letters. I don’t think any of the owls could find me.” 

Ron looked at him quizzically. “But the owls can always find people!”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno, mate. It was my bad. I came here and got some of my galleons changed to Muggle money. Figured it would be safer if I stayed anonymously at a Muggle hotel. Oh! And I sent you letters, I just figured that you hadn’t gotten them yet.” He lied smoothly, the words tumbling perfectly from his lips.

Hermione looked skeptical still. “And what were you doing?”

Harry tried to look sheepish at this. “I… May have finished my homework. A bit.”

McGonagall coughed in surprise. “You did, Potter?”

He nodded. “I had some issues with the Potions paper, but I muddled through it.” This was true. He hadn’t done well on the Potions one at first, but Draco had been a tremendous help. 

Looking very put off, Hermione and McGonagall retreated slightly as Mr. Weasley took over. “Before anything else, I think we should get off the streets, and then we can hear your story.”

Harry nodded. They loaded his belongings in a taxi, Mrs. Weasley and McGonagall Disapparating. Mr. Weasley sat in the front, while Harry sat in the back, looking in confusion at his friends’ suspicious stares. The ride was an uncomfortable one. 

When they reached their destination, Harry looked around in bewilderment. “Um?”

“Here. You’re supposed to memorize this.” Ron handed him a small slip of paper in writing he recognized- Dumbledore’s. 

_The Order of the Pheonix can be found at Number 12, Grimmauld Place._

Harry looked at the paper. “What?”

Hermione pointed between 11 and 13, the two houses in front of him, and murmured. “Focus on what you just read.”

He did as she said as she took the paper from him, lighting it on fire with a lighter that she held in her pocket. Almost immediately, a large house burst into being. The trio hurried inside, with Mr.Weasley behind them. “Ron, Hermione, take Harry upstairs and fill him in. Everyone else should be in the meeting already, so I should get in there. And try not to wake anything up.”

He hurried off, leaving the three teenagers alone. “C’mon.” Ron said, grabbing Harry’s trunk. 

They set off up the stairs, barely getting three feet before Hermione sighed and cast a lightening charm on the trunk. “Honestly!” She muttered. “Do be quiet, I don’t want to get yelled at.” 

They came to a small room with two beds. One was already taken over completely by Ron, the other stood forlorn. They set Harry’s things down at its foot and opened the window for Hedwig to come through when she came back.

Harry turned, glaring at Ron and Hermione. “What the hell?” His voice was hard.

The two looked at each other. “Harry, look, we know you’re probably a bit mad, but we couldn’t tell you! Dumbledore made us swear not to, and he cast a charm so that only he can tell anyone about the Order and this house and, and-”

Harry held up his hands, giving them a small smile. “Alright. I accept that. What can you tell me?”

Looking a tad thrown off by his apparent switch in mood, Ron and Hermione filled him in on what they could until Mrs. Weasley called them down for dinner. By the time they went down, Harry knew about the extendable ears and the small amounts of information that they had all gleaned from them, as well as the row that Percy and Mr. Weasley had. 

They had a nice meal, even if Fred and George caused some trouble. After it was cleared, Sirius spoke up. “I’m kind of shocked, Harry. I thought you’d come storming into the meeting first thing the moment you got here, demanding to know everything.”

Everyone froze, staring at Harry and Sirius. “Sirius, I really don’t think that-” Mrs. Weasley began.

“I’m sorry, Molly, but I am genuinely confused as to why he’s not doing as expected, and I’m sure that you are as well.”

The rest of the adults around the table nodded reluctantly. Harry shifted uncomfortably. “I just figured… I might as well get my bearings around here first, and that you’re unlikely to allow me to know anything until I can prove myself responsible enough to know, y’know?” These were infact, not Harry’s thoughts. Draco had offered him this advice, and Harry had seen the wisdom in it.

The others were suspicious, and Harry reasoned that they could be as he was acting completely unlike him. Then Sirius spoke. “I think that knowing that proves that you’re adult enough.”

Mrs. Weasley gasped. “Sirius, you can’t be serious!”

Sirius snorted slightly, and with laughter in his voice, he murmured “Ah, but I am, aren’t I? You just called me that.”

Quailing slightly from her glare, his smile softened. Remus spoke before they could get into an argument. “I agree with Sirius, Molly. Harry does deserve to know, especially as we he’s Voldemort’s main target.”

Mr. Weasley and McGonagall voiced their agreement and Mrs. Weasley let out a huff. “Fine. Tell him. Tell them all, but it’s on your heads if something happens to them!” She crossed her arms, glaring at her husband.

“Alright, Harry. What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you can tell me. I already know some, like why there hasn’t been any strange deaths. Doesn’t want to draw attention, does he? And then there’s also the issues that Dumbledore’s been having, and how everyone is trying to ‘discredit him’.” Harry knew all this from Draco. The blond had become very talkative after the first week, when he had discovered that he and Harry shared mutual love for many things. “And also how Voldemort’s been trying to gain more followers, and that if anyone at the Ministry is caught consorting with Dumbledore then they’ll likely be fired.”

Remus looked at Harry in surprise. “How do you know all that?” 

Harry shrugged, realizing that in his excitement he’d made a mistake and revealed too much. He thought quickly, spinning truth and lies together into an intricate tale. “I haven’t seen any reports on deaths, and Voldemort’s intentions on that front are easy to figure out. And obviously he doesn’t want to take everyone on at the same time. Already failed once, didn’t he? He has his immeasurable pride, so he’d be a tad more cautious this time around after the mistake he made last time.”

“And the stuff about Dumbledore?” Mr. Weasley asked. Ron and Hermione were staring in awe at Harry, as were Ginny, George and Fred. They’d all stayed silent in fear of getting kicked out.

“I saw the Prophet reports about how he’s been kicked out of several of his positions. And if they’re risking Dumbledore’s wrath then they’d be targeting his followers as well, wouldn’t they?” Draco had been very helpful in this part, telling him slips of information from his father in passing. 

“Yeah.” Sirius looked slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Harry to know so much. “So is there anything you want to know?”

“I want to know if you have the names of any people I should be cautious of.”

“We don’t know very many. These people are secretive. Obviously, the old Death Eater families, like Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoys count…” They continued to list names, and Harry listened avidly. After they were done he thanked them, and claiming tiredness, went up to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh jeez, it's been a while, hasn't it?  
> I recently got a job, and life's been a little hectic. I hope you're not angry. I'll probably cry.  
> I wanted to clear a few things up. There is no established relationship in this fic. Harry and Draco did come to a little bit of a truce last year, something which I will tell you about later, but otherwise, they're just still disliking each other. In a less hostile way.
> 
> They'll probably get together later, though, so keep with me as I write this. It may be a little while. 
> 
> Happy Halloween! I'll do my best to post more later. 
> 
> I know that these are hard times for all of us. Stay strong.

On his bed lay a letter, and Hedwig slept in her cage. Moving quickly, as the others had followed him up, Harry snatched up the envelope, stuffing it into his shirt before they could see.

Fred and George bounced into the room behind Ron and Hermione, Ginny following after. “Wow, mate-” One of the twins said.

“We didn’t-”

“Know you-”

“Had it in you!” They finished together, grinning like mad men.

“Had what?” Harry asked, feigning confusion to their surprise.

“Well, Harry, you have to admit, it’s a bit unexpected for you to just spout out knowledge like that.” Hermione said gingerly. 

Ron nodded. “She’s right, mate. And you acted all quiet about it too. We expected you to be all mad and stuff at first, but you were just kinda quiet about the whole thing, from the moment you got here.” The others nodded. “You’re not imperiused, are you?”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “If I were, wouldn’t it be better for me to act normally so I’m not suspected? No, I figured that really, there had to be a reason for you guys keeping secrets, and it’s no use getting mad about something that is already in the past and unchangeable, is it?” He flopped back onto his bed and everyone sat in the chairs and on the beds in the room, Ron sitting cross legged on his own bed, Hermione next to him. 

“Well… Still, Harry. Even you realizing that… it’s kinda weird.” Ginny shrugged. “I guess we’re all just kind of surprised.”

Hermione waved her hands. “Well, so long as we’re all here, Harry,” Her eyes took on a slightly predatory gleam, “why don’t I look over your homework for you.”

Harry gulped, nodding. He undid the buckle on his book bag, bringing out several thick scrolls. He tossed them, one by one, to his friend, naming each as he did so. “Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Astrology, I even did some extra credit for Divination, here that is… Ah, and this one is Potions. Am I forgetting anything?” He murmured, almost distractedly as he dug through his bag. 

Hermione shook her head as she eagerly reached towards his Transfiguration essay, clearly wanting to find something to correct. 

As she read through the papers, everyone else started chatting again. 

About an hour later, she was somewhat paler than she normally was. “There’s nothing.” She hissed the words angrily. 

The others, who had been talking Quidditch, looked towards her in confusion. The scrolls were littered around her place in the bed, and she was glaring down at them. “Um… What?” Ron ventured, keeping his voice soft for fear of angering her.

“There’s nothing there! These are good! I can’t find anything wrong with them, if anything, there’s more inches than he needed!” She turned her furious gaze on Harry, who gulped and leaned away. “What the hell, Harry! What the hell were you doing the past couple of weeks?!”

“Homework!” Harry said indignantly. 

“You don’t do homework like this!”

“And how do I do it then, Hermione! Were you expecting me to rely on you for the rest of my life?”

This gave the angry girl pause. “Well… No.” She sighed. “Sorry.”

Harry nodded warily, and she returned the scrolls. Wisely, everyone avoided the subject for the rest of the night. Harry said he was tired at about 9, and everyone left the room to let him sleep.

He changed into his pajamas, sweats and an old tank top, before settling down on his bed with a piece of parchment, a quill, and his letter. 

He unfolded the envelope swiftly, pulling out the small letter. 

_How’d it go?_  
_I realized after you left that you had forgotten that band shirt, what is it, Metallica? You left it here. I’ll bring it to you when we get back to school._  
Speaking of which, we’ll need to find a place to meet when we get there. I highly doubt that us hanging out in public will help anything.  
You never answered my question, by the way. About why you chose my house instead of going to where your friends were. I realized that I’m probably breaking our agreement by asking, but still, I’d like to know. 

 

The letter ended there. Instead of Malfoy’s usual looping cursive, this was in print, the letters still neat, but pointier. 

Harry sighed, admiring this. No one would recognize this writing as Malfoy’s, should they get ahold of the letter.

Harry took his quill, sucking lightly on the end of it before beginning to write. 

_Better than I thought. Having my homework already done placated Hermione and McGonagall a bit, though Hermione was angry that it was such good quality._  
_Your advice worked wonders, they told me quite a bit of what I wanted to know. I asked who they thought I should watch out for and your name was among the first. I found that a tad ironic. Imagine their faces if they knew where I was actually staying the past few weeks…_  
_Oh good, I was looking for that shirt. I couldn’t find it._  
_And you’re right. I think I have a place we can go to. Meet me in that empty classroom next to the Charms one after the Welcome feast. I’ll show you then._  
_I didn’t even realize what I was doing -or that I knew where you lived- until I saw you open the door. I think my subconscious just led me there. Figured that if I was going to be lied to, it should be someone I expect it from, instead of my best friends. I didn’t think that you’d be so nice though. I thought I would have had to do something to get you to say yes, and that we’d ignore eachother.  
_But on that note, why DID you say yes?  
_Also, I’ll start using the watch from now on, since Hedwig’s probably not happy with all these letters. Don’t forget, you can talk to me if you need to as well.___

 

Harry blew on the page, folding it up and slipping it into another envelope. He sheepishly tapped Hedwig’s cage, waking her. “Hey. I know you’re tired, and that you probably don’t want to, and I promise you a good long rest after this one, but can you take this back to him?”

Hedwig hooted, accepting the letter and taking off, leaving Harry to sleep.


End file.
